Glass transfer mechanism



Jan- 2, 1934- s. B. BowMAN Er AL j 1,942,084

GLASS TRANSFER MECHANISM Filed May 26, 1928 L j mmm/qa Patented Jan. 2,1934

UNITED sTATns GLASS TRANSFER AMECHANISM Samuel B. Bowman,

Thomas Stenhouse, Washington, to Hazel-Atlas Glass Co., corporation of West `Virginia Applicatio May 26, 1928. Serial No. 280,861

"' 10 Claims.

The present invention relates to glass transfer mechanism and has special reference to such a device for use in connection with a cross-conveyer which carries the ware direct from the forming machine to a point in front of the lehr, from whence it is pushed ontothe lehr conveyer proper.

In the construction herein disclosed thelehr is disposed close to the forming machine and the ytake-out device for lifting the ware from the molds places the ware directly on the cross-conveyer for transportation to the front of the lehr. Obviously such a cross-conveyer may only be adjusted within very narrow limits vertically since it must remain substantially ush .with the lehr conveyor. Therefore, where ware of different height is made on the forming machine it becomes necessary that the take-out device be capable of adjustment so as to lift the ware vary' ing distances, especially in those types of forming machines in which the position of the bottom of the mold varies with the height of the ware. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a take-out mechanism of sim- 5 ple and inexpensive construction which by a single adjustment may bereadily adapted to lift the ware varying distances according to the height of the ware.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be in part pointed out and in part apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing; in which Figure 1 is a fragmentary horizontal section through a lehr showing the loading device in- .stalled at the front thereof;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional View of the mechanism for lifting the ware from the molds of the forming machine, and showing the grippers 40 in open position.

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 but showing the grippers in closed position at the bottom limit of movement of the mechanism; and Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on line 1 -4 of Figure 2. c

Referring to the drawing in detail the numeral 1 designates a-lehr preferably provided with a lining of heat insulating material 2 and a conveyer 3` of conventional type. The lehr 1 is positioned in close proximity to a forming machine 4 and disposed adjacent both the :forming machine and the lehr is a cross-conveyer `5 mounted on suitable sprocket wheels or the like supported on bearings c and which isoper'ated by a suitable variable speed motor 7 connected to ment on the main post of the forming machine 4.

Zanesville, Ohio, and Pa., assignors Wheeling, W. Va., a

the driving wheel of the cross-conveyer by-means of suitable reduction gearing 8. Numeral v9 indicates the usual shadow pan for spanning the space between the cross-conveyer 5 and the conveyer 3 of the lehr. A take-out device 10 for transferring ware from the molds of the forming machine to the cross-conveyer is preferably adjustably mounted on the main post of the forming machine and will be presently described in detail.

In the arrangement just referred to it will be noted that the cross-conveyer ,5 receives the ware directly from the forming machine and carries it across the front ofthe lehr 1. In such a construction it is obvious that the cross-conveyer can only be adjusted vertically within very narrow limits, -as it must remain in substantially the same plane as the lehr conveyer. But as the articles made by the forming machines may vary widely in height, and as in some types of forming machines theupper ylimit is fixed and variations in height are elected downwardly, it follows that the ware must be lifted varying distances in order to bring the bottom of the ware to the plane of the cross-conveyer. Accordingly, we have provided a take-outdevice which may be adjusted to lift the ware different .distances so as to bring the bottom of ware of diierent height, to the plane of the cross-conveyer.

This take-out device which has been indicated generally by the numeral 10, consists of a vertically disposed cylinder 1l which is mounted in any suitable manner on an end of the horizontally disposed piston rod 12 which is operatively connected with the horizontally disposed cylinder 13 which itself may be mounted for vertical adjust- The cylinder 13, of course, serves to reciprocate the cylinder 11 back and forth between the forming machine 4 andthe cross-conveyer 5, and the cylinder 11 serves to raise and lower the grippers and open and close the same in a manner which will now be described.-

Mounted within the cylinder 11 is a centrally 100 apertured or hollow piston 14 to which is secured in any preferred manner a hollow piston rod 15 provided in its wall with an elongated slot 16 for a, purpose which will later appear. Carried by the lower end of the hollow rod 15 or inte- 105 grally formed thereon is a bracket 17 comprising two downwardly extending arms 18 which serve as bearing members or pivots for the grippers 19 which are pivoted intermediate their ends to the arms 18 as indicated by the numeral 20. 'Ihese 110 grippers are provided with jaws 21 which are preferably detachably mounted thereon.

Mounted within the hollow piston rod 15 is a second piston rod 22 which also extends through the central aperture in the hollow piston 14 and has secured to its upper end by meansA of a riveted insert 23 a piston 24. Also secured to the piston rod 22 at a distance from the piston 24 greater than the thickness of the piston 14, is a second piston 25. This piston is also secured to the rod by means of a riveted insert 26 which extends through the slot 16 in the hollow piston rod 15. The piston 25 is of the same diameter as the internal diameter of the cylinder 11, but the piston 24 is of somewhat lessdiameter than the cylinder 11 so as to cooperate with the interior oi the adjustable sleeve or cap 27 to be later referred to in detail. The lower end of the piston rod 22 is provided with a pin 28 which cooperates with slots 29 formed in the adjacent ends of the grippers 19 and serves to open and close these jaws as the piston rod'22 is reciprocated relatively to the arins 13 which form pivotal supports for these jaws.

Air is supplied to the lower end of the cylinder 1l by means of a conduit 30 and to the upper end of the cylinder l1 by means of a passage extending downwardly through the threaded shank 31 which carries on its lower end the sleeve or cap 27. The passage of this shank portion 31 communicates with a source of fluid pressure by means of ilexible hose 32; it being preferable, of course, that both the conduits 30 and 32 be formed of flexible material in order that the cylinder may be reciprocated back and forth between the forming machine 4 and the crossconveyer 5.

The position of the sleeve or cap 27 which serves as a stop to vary the extent of upward movement of the grippers 19 may be varied by means of a nut 33 which is threaded to the shank 31 and is held against vertical movement on the upper end of the cylinder 11 by means of a split collar 34 secured to the upper cylinder head.

In the operation of the take-out device just described and with the stop 27 in the position indicated in Figs. 2 and 3, the ware is gripped as indicated in Fig; 3. Air now being supplied to the lower end of the cylinder 11, the pistons 14 and 25 are raised simultaneously until the upper surface of the piston 14 engages the lower edge of the stop 27 during which movement the piston 24 moves upwardly within the cavity formed in the stop 27. Fluid pressure is now admitted to the cylinder 13 which projects cylinder 11 and the ware carried thereby to a position over the cross-conveyer 5, at which time conduit 32 is opened to the fluid pressure supply and the piston 24 moved downwardly into contact with the piston 14 as shown in Fig. 2, thereby moving the grippers 19 about their pivots 20 and releasing the ware in set up position on the cross-conveyer 5. The cylinder 11 is then retracted toward the forming machine and while moving in that direction fiuid pressure is continued in the upper end of the cylinder 11 and forces the pistons 24 and 14 downwardly until such time as piston 25 engages the lower wall of the cylinder. At this time the cylinder is directly over a iinished piece of ware in the forming machine and the piston 14 continues its downward movement until it contacts the piston 25 which is already at the bottom of the cylinder as shown in Fig. 3. This relative movement between the piston 14 and the piston 25 causes the grippers to swing into closed position and grip the ware as indicated in Fig. 3,after which the several steps are again repeated in regular order during the continued operation of the device.

Should ware of greater height be formed than that for which the take-out device is adjusted asshown in Figs. 2 and 3, the nut '33 will be rotated on its axis to draw upwardly the stop 27 so as to permit the pistons 14 and 24 to move upwardly a greater distance and thereby bring the bottom of the longer ware to a position flush with or slightly above the horizontal plane in which the cross-conveyer is located.

It will thus be seen that by this construction of take-out device the same may be adjusted so as to accommodate itself to varying heights of ware without in any way necessitating a vertical change in the positionof the cross-conveyer, thereby permitting the practical operation of an arrangement such as shown in Fig. 1 in which the cross-conveyor serves to carry the ware directly from the forming machine to the lehr loader which cooperates with the cross-conveyer to feed the ware into the lehr, thus eliminating the expense of installing a second conveyer as well as the expense of maintenance and operation thereof. Furthermore, by this arrangement of a-.me-

chanical take-out device in cooperation directly with the cross-conveyer of the lehr, it will be apparent that the pieces of ware willL be accurately spaced on the cross-conveyer since the movements of the cross-conveyer and take-out device are synchronized and may be readily adjusted to suit ware of different diameter. This spacing of the ware is desirable in the present arrangement of the apparatus, inasmuch as the ware is at a high temperature when it is placed in the lehr.

Suitable cam operated valves may be provided for admitting fluid pressure to the ends of the cylinders 13 and 1l in the proper sequence, but inasmuch as such cam operated valvesare well known in the art, it has been deemed unnecessary to show or describe any arrangement of such valves and cams since they may be of any conventional type.

While we have described herein the preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the structure disclosed is merely illustrative of the invention, and that the disclosed structure is susceptible of various changes without departing from the spirit of the invention.

No claim is made herein to the lehr loading device, shown generally in Figure 1 but not described, for projecting rows of ware from the cross-conveyer onto the leer conveyer; the claims to such subject-matter being made in a divisional Patent No. 1,906,786, granted May 2, 1933.

Having fully described our.invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a transfer mechanism a take-out device including a cylinder, a piston and a hollow piston rody in said cylinder, a second piston in said cylinder, a piston rod fixed to said last-mentioned piston and disposed within said hollow piston rod, grippers pivotally associated with the ends of said piston frods, and means for directingran operating fluid into said cylinder to open and close said grippers and to bodily reciprocate the same.

2. In a transfer mechanism a take-out device for directing an operating fluid into said cylinincluding a cylinder, a piston and a hollow piston rod in said cylinder, a second piston in said cylinder, a piston rod fixed to said last-mentioned piston and disposed within said hollow piston rod, grippers pivotally associated with the ends oi said piston rods, means for directing an operating uid into said cylinder to open and close said grippers and to bodily reciprocate the same, and means for varying the extent oi reciprocating movement of said grippers.

3. in a transfer mechanism a take-ont device including a cylinder, a piston and a hollow piston rod in said cylinder, a second piston in said cylinder, a piston rod xed to said last-mentioned piston and disposed within said hollow piston rod, a pair of grippers pivotally mounted between their ends to one of said piston rods, a pivotal connection between the other of said piston rods and the adjacent ends of said grippers and means for directing an operating fluid into said cylinder to open and close said gripper-s and to bodily reciprocate the same.

e. In a transfer mechanism a taire-out device including a cylinder, a piston and a hollow piston rod in said cylinder, a second piston in said cylinder, a piston rod fixed to said last-mentioned piston and disposed within said hollow piston rod, a pair of grippers pivotally mounted between their ends to one of said piston rods, a pivotal connection between the other of said piston rods and the adjacent ends of said grippers, means for directing an operating fluid into said cylinder to open and close said grippers and to bodily reciprocate the saine, and means for varying the extent of reciprocating movement of said grippers.

5. In a transfer mechanism a take-out device including a cylinder, a hollow piston and piston rod in said cylinder, a second piston rod in said cylinder and extending through said hollow piston and piston rod, pistons disposed on opposite sides of said hollow piston and connected to said second piston rod, grippers pivoted intermediate their ends to one oi said piston rods, a pivotal connection between the other of said piston rods and the adjacent ends of said grippers, and means for directing an operating :duid into said cylinder to open and close said grippers and to bodily reciprocate the same.

6. In a transfer mechanism a take-out device including a cylinder, a hollow piston and piston rod in said cylinder, a second piston rod in said cylinder and extending through said hollow piston and piston rod, pistons disposed on opposite sides of said hollow piston and connected to said second piston rod, grippers pivoted intermediate their ends to one of said piston rods, a pivotal connection between the other of said piston rods and the adjacent ends of said grippers, means der to open and'close said grippers and to bodily reciprocate the same, and means for varying the extent of movement of said pistons. p

'1.v In a transfer mechanism a take-out device z including a cylinder, a hollow piston and piston rod in said cylinder, a second piston rod in said cylinder and extending through said hollow piston and piston rod, pistons disposed on opposite sides of said hollow piston and connected to said second piston rod, grippers pivoted intermediate their ends to one of said piston rods, a pivotal connection between the other of said piston rods and the adjacent ends of said grippers, means for directing an operating fluid into said cylinder to open and clase said grippers and to bodily reciprocate the saine, and means for varying the extent of movement of said hollow piston without varying the extent or relative movement between the hollow piston and the pistons disposed on opposite sidesthereof.

8. In a transfer mechanism a take-out device including a cylinder, a hollow piston and piston rod in said cylinder, a second piston rod in said cylinder andei'rtending through said hollow piston and piston rod, pistons disposed on opposite sides of said hollow piston and connected to said second piston rod, gripp-ers pivoted intermediate their ends to one of said piston rods, a pivotal connection between the other of said piston rods and the adjacent ends oi said grippers, means for directing an operating fluid into said cylinder to open and close said grippers and to bodily reciprocate the same, and means for varying the extent of movement of both oi said piston rods without varying the extent of relative movement between said rods.

9. A glass transfer mechanism including a 2165 glass forming machine in which all articles formed thereby have their tops in the same horizontal plane irrespective of the height of the articles, and having their bottoms in different horizontal planes depending upon the height of mo the articles, atake-out device associated with the forming machine and including a pair oi grippers, means for raising and lowering the' grippers, the lower limit of movement of the grippersbeing xed to grip the tops of articles which are always in the same horizontal plane, and means for varying the upper limit of movement of the grippers, whereby the bottoms of Y articles in different horizontal planes when formed may be elevated to a single horizontal 12g; plane.

10. A glass transfer mechanism inclu'r glass forming machine in which all articles formed thereby have their tops in the s horlzontal plane irrespective of the height of the articles, and having their bottoms in diderent horizontal planes depending upon the height of the articles, a take-out device associated with the forming machine and including means for gripping the articles, means for raising and lowering the gripping means, the lower limit of movement of the gripping means being xed to grip the top of articles which are always in the same horizontal plane, and means for varying the upper limit of movement of the grippers, whereby the bottoms of the articles in diner-ent horizontal planes when formed mav be` elevated to a single horizontal plane, and means for *noving the gripping means back and forth afterv being elevated.

1 S B. BOVTMAN 40 THOMAS s'InNnoUsEf 

